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The Home Conundrum, and the Battle of Graduating

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What’s more difficult than having to say goodbye to your friends, professors, college lawns, your college canteen, and the city you called “home”? It’s figuring out what to do next. What’s the next stop in this journey for which you neither have an itinerary nor a guide to help you schedule your breakdowns? 

It’s 7 pm on a Saturday, you’ve completed all your work and the city lights are more beautiful than ever. You get a text from your friend about a party happening merely two blocks away. You have a faint smile on your face, but somehow your eyes don’t glimmer at the text the way they would have 2 weeks ago. It’s not that you don’t want to go, it’s your heart’s faint protest that is almost 3 days too early. Why, you ask? It’s your graduation ceremony on Monday. Three years of crying for this degree (and with it) have finally ended. But what’s this queasy feeling inside of you? Instead of being happy, you wrestle with this scintilla of bitterness in your chest.

Delhi University, home to thousands of young students, some who grew up here, and others who chose to be here. The ones who did choose also made the choice of leaving their homes behind. The life they’d grown to love, and the life that they now cherish only in memories. Nonetheless, once the city of Delhi – the “Dilwalon ki Dilli” – casts its spell on you, your definition of home begins to expand. You begin to grow a life here, and perhaps, start loving it a bit too. Your friends become your family, your professors become parents.

And yes, soon enough, the career dilemma, the imposter syndrome, and a pile of assignments creep in, and you also finally learn what it means to be truly overwhelmed. The friends that have now become your family also sometimes become a shoulder to cry on when you can’t bear the concept of college any longer. Between the fun, frolic, and a lil bit of crying, acceptance becomes your natural response. And the moment you finally, completely, truly come to terms with this acceptance…snap! Three years are over. 

What follows is the same bitterness, the same anxiety that smuggled its way into your head three years ago when you chose to leave your first home. Except now, you also need to find a job, earn money, and figure out what to do next, all on your own. Acceptance gets replaced with denial (or finally finds its way back to it), and the only “acceptance” you can tolerate are university, internship, and offer letters. No one said it was going to be easy, but between watching yourself stress over college assignments to now stressing over month-end because the paycheck isn’t in yet? Adulting becomes the cold hard reality. 

More than anxiety it’s the pressure of trying to know which city I’m going to go to next. Even if you miss home, you tend to familiarize yourself with the new idea of home and what you’ve found, i.e pretty much wherever you stay has to become your home for a particular amount of time. The home conundrum for me is missing my home, the one I grew up in, constantly and always wanting to go back, but also the feeling of sadness that comes when I realize I will have to leave my current residence in a few days, and then also wanting to stay back a few more days here.” – Debarati Mitra, a 3rd-year student at Maitreyi College and a beloved ex-DUB correspondent

So yeah, the nostalgia learns to balance itself out with the anticipation of tomorrow. Adulting is no longer a Gen-Z slang but something real you get to deal with. As the class of 2023 graduates, and combs into the tousled mess of being an adult, there is, but one takeaway: patience. Be patient, work hard, take care, be madly in love with yourself, and let life piece itself together as you find its various jumbled pieces along the way.

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat Archives/ Sukriti

Read Also: Jab DU Met Bollywood

Vidushi Sinha

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Campus Central

DU Teachers Stage Protest for Absorption of Ad-Hoc Teachers

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On Monday, April 10, the teachers and various teacher organisations of Delhi University staged a protest during an Executive Council meeting, demanding the absorption of ad-hoc and temporary teachers along with the formation of governing bodies in Delhi government-funded DU colleges.

The members of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) protested outside the vice chancellor’s office while the Executive Council meeting was underway. They were joined by the teachers’ wing of the Aam Adami Party, the Academics for Action and Development Delhi Teachers’ Association (AADTA). The demonstration included two members of the Executive Council itself, Seema Das and Rajpal Singh Pawar, who are also associated with AADTA. The primary issue raised was that of the displacement of ad-hoc teachers, leading to dire financial conditions and job insecurity.

 “The ousting of long-serving teachers is inhumane and promotes social insecurity in the working of the ad-hoc teaching community, which is not in the interest of the academic environment, teachers, and the community.”

                                            —AK Bhagi, Delhi University Teachers’ Association President

They demanded the absorption of displaced teachers and additionally called for the formation of governing bodies in colleges funded by the Delhi government, claiming that the “arbitrary displacements” had been a result of the absence of governing bodies.

“DU has been reneging on its promise of no displacement and warned that this is leading to the harassment of thousands of ad-hoc and temporary teachers working in the colleges of the University.”

                         —Seema Das, Executive Council Member and Member of AADTA

Displacement of ad-hoc teachers has been a pressing issue in the varsity, as data gathered by some University teachers suggests that nearly 76% of ad-hoc teachers have been displaced. Of the 615 ad-hoc teachers who were interviewed for permanent positions in various colleges, it is estimated that nearly 465 have been displaced as of April 8. Many of them have been teaching for several years, some even decades and nearing retirement.

“You cannot displace them in just two minutes. What will happen to them? Where will they go? Many of these teachers are above 40 and some are even nearing retirement. They provided their services despite knowing that they were not going to receive any facilities that the permanent staff do. We have been abandoned by the University and left in a lurch.”

                   — An anonymous ad-hoc teacher who was displaced recently

Some teachers alleged lack of transparency in the interview process, saying that they were not selected despite having experience and academic publications.

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Read also: Chronological Account of the DUTA Ad-Hoc Crisis

Sanika Singh
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Arts & Culture

Jab DU Met Bollywood

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How does it feel to see those familiar lawns, walls, canteens and classrooms of your college on silver screens? Perhaps, it is not something new for a Delhi University kid, or is it?

In contemporary times, nothing has been left un-bollywoodised. From ambitious “apna time aayega” (my time will come) posters on the walls of our rooms to those trying-to-be-quirky truck drivers bearing “has mat pagli pyaar ho jaega” (don’t smile or I’ll fall in love with you) at the back of their vehicles to finding equal proportions in meme culture, the Bollywood fever has swept over the entire array. In such a culture, how could premier institutions like Delhi University be left untouched by bolly-baptization?

Heaving with overwhelm, jittering with anxiety not without a truckload of anticipation – this is a common description of any first-year student, especially those who make it to the “coveted” corners of DU. The Bollywood bandwagon has seeped so much into the college culture that even these nervous “facchas” are treated to Bollywood-themed fresher’s parties followed by the onslaught of Instagram reels documenting the whole event.

A scene from the film Fukrey (2013) shot in Miranda House,  Image Credits: Celluloid: The Film Society of Miranda House

Why is the college trope so famous?

There seems to be a sort of symbiotic relationship between college and Bollywood, which has of course, found its nexus in the glamorisation of college life. From college friendships to college romance, the trope of college life has been reproduced to an extent that now it seems oversaturated. Yet, it is one of the most popular genres, earning a bloating box-office collection everytime. From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) to Rang De Basanti (2006) to 3 Idiots (2009) and more recently Chhichhore (2019), the list goes on. The changing demography of the target audience has allowed film industries to extract their careers out of our nostalgia. We often yearn for the bygone days and certainly, the college years occupy one of our fondest memories. After all, for many of us, college is the time when we experience most of our ‘firsts’ – crushes, heartbreaks, fights, and countless other memorable experiences. And through these films, these eccentricities of college life we get to experience again. 

A scene from the film Half Girlfriend (2017) shot in St. Stephen’s College,   Image Credits: The Times of India

The Politics of “Privileged” Colleges

We all love and undeniably feel a sense of pride seeing the cameo of our colleges in our most cherished films. But why do some DU colleges make it to the screens while some do not? The Hinduite Jordan and the Stephanian Heer became the college Romeo-Juliet romance. The “itni si chutney me do samose khau mai?” (how do I eat two samosas in so little chutney) graffiti on Hindu canteen’s wall from the same film Rockstar, Fukrey in Miranda House, Dil Dosti Etc in Hindu College, DevD and Band Baja Baarat in Hansraj and Half Girlfriend in St. Stephen’s College. The Ananya-Panday-effect of these North Campus colleges is very evident in the Bollywood milieu of nepotism. For filmmakers, shooting in DU mainly means shooting in the North Campus. The number of shoots in North Campus particularly has also increased in the past few years, from 3-4 shoots to 10-12 shoots per year, possibly because of easy permissions. These shoots in North Campus catch the fancy of many students and thus continue to uphold the existing hierarchy of colleges in Delhi University. According to an interview conducted by The Times of India in 2018, Ravi Sarin who was a part of the shooting of the film ‘Mom’ at SRCC said, “It’s the architecture of the colleges of North Campus that attracts filmmakers.” The charming red brick buildings of North Campus colleges are a major attraction to the filmmakers. It provides a sense of historicity to the location, an amalgamation of the new and the old, past and present. 

A scene from the film  Raazi (2018) shot in Miranda House,  Image Credits: The Times of India

The Fallacy of Masti ki Paathshala 

Common expectation told to us by elders and popular media often fosters a fallacy premised upon hopes for better days in college, better life, better opportunities and better friendships. The American threesome of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll is replicated in Bollywood as maal, masti and mohabbat (substance, fun and love). However, this alliteration fails to capture the unglorified realities of DU- hectic timetables, strict professors, boring lectures, stifling competition and everyday metro hustles. Colleges in Bollywood are nothing less than any theme park that has to sustain the assortment of fake paraphernalia of coolness, fun, richness, style and other cliched fancy adjectives. Only if college life was a Dharma Production you can expect to find an SRK-type boyfriend or a hot professor like in Main Hoon Na. In reality, there will be no falling in love with violin playing in the background, wind brushing past the hair and romantic slow-mo moments. Neither, in fact hardly our yaad-karegi-duniya-tera-mera-afsana (the world will remember our story) kind of friendships will permeate our nine-to-five reality. Will we even care for our lost Rancho inhabiting some far-off part of Ladakh after 10 years? In times when everyone seems to be guilty of repeatedly postponing Goa plans until it dies on a vine, it’s a bitter realisation that we all shall be made Arjuns uttering Moshi Moshi to a Japanese client on a road trip to Spain with friends (if at all the trip transcends the precincts of our plannings). 

A dialogue turned meme from the film Rockstar (2011),  Image Credits: Indian Meme Template

Hmm, so we can say, our much loved DU (and colleges in general) have had its own multiplicity of moments – as a main character, as a side-kick, as a decorative prop (like female characters in KJO films), as a misrepresented character (like LGBTQ characters in Bollywood) and sometimes as an anti-hero (like those in Anurag Kashyap’s films). But in everything, maybe DU is our Geet from Jab We Met who does not shy away from claiming “Mai apni favourite hoon”

Feature Image Credits: ScoopWhoop

Read Also: Bollywood Imitates Life and Vice-Versa

Samra Iqbal

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DUB News

Academicians Ask Delhi University To Revoke BBC Film Punishment.

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More than 50 academics from DU, JNU, and other institutions have written to the Delhi University VC, requesting the removal of the punishments meted out to students who were allegedly involved in the screening of the Narendra Modi BBC documentary.

On Thursday, April 6 2023, 59 academics, on behalf of the India Academic Freedom
Network, wrote to the University of Delhi, advocating for the revocation of the punishment
imposed on students for screening the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and his alleged involvement in the Gujarat riots. The letter addressed to Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Yogesh Singh, stated that the failure to obtain approval for its screening is “not a serious enough offence” to prevent students from taking examinations.

“We need not tell you that the university is supposed to be a space where students and teachers feel free to get information from any source, decide for themselves and express themselves freely. They are adults and can make decisions for themselves. We, teachers and administrators are not here to police their thoughts or censor their sources of information.” The letter stated.

The documentary, India: The Modi Question, critically explores then Chief Minister Modi’s involvement in the Muslim genocides in Gujarat in 2002. It was screened on-campus by several student groups on 27th January,2023.  The following day, Delhi Police detained 24 students from Delhi University’s Arts Faculty and a disciplinary committee barred 2 PhD students namely Lokesh Chugh and Ravinder Singh from all academic activities, including exams for one year, for allegedly
planning to exhibit the documentary.

In the memorandum issued on March 10, the DU registrar claimed that the BBC documentary is ‘banned’ and requested 6 other students to submit written apologies to the administration for screening the film without permission. The professors response, however, questioned the disciplinary actions’ justifications, arguing that they were out of proportion to the alleged violation.  “The memorandum regarding the punishment, as published in the media, states that they had violated the ban on screening of the said documentary by the government of India,” the letter stated. “We want to bring to your notice that it is known to all that the documentary was never banned and is still not banned by the government.”

The letter then specified that the documentary was “only a critical examination of the present regime in the context of the situation of Muslims.” It was signed by Satish Deshpandeand Nandini Sundar from the Department of Sociology, Ashwini Kumar from DUTA and Sucharita Sen and Avinash Kumar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, among others.

“The only condition we all must follow while exercising this right is that it should not promote hatred and violence. How could it’s screening by some students become a threat to order on the campus, is beyond our understanding.” they added. The signatories stressed the significance of creating a secure environment on campus for students to practice critical thinking. “It is not the job of the university to defend the government or disallow thoughts critical to it. We hope that our concern would be heard and the said punishment order would be withdrawn.”, the letter concluded.

Image Credits: TFI Post

Read Also: Students Detained by Delhi Police after NREGA Discussions

Manvi Goel
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Gargi College

Gargi College Students Protest for Reverie College Fest

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On April 3, 2023, the students of Gargi College, led by SFI, organised a protest to demand the restriction-free organisation of their annual college fest, Reverie, along with standing in solidarity with protesting IPCW students.

On Monday, April 3 2023, a rumour that the Gargi College’s administration’s planned to cancel its annual fest, Reverie, was met with protests led by SFI Gargi. This event followed the stampede and cases of harassment that took place at the annual fest of Indraprastha College for Women on March 28, 2023.

The fest was tentatively scheduled for April 10–12, 2023. Such rumours particularly caught wind when, on March 31, 2023, “Reverie Reveal” did not go as planned, as the college’s Student Council failed to disclose the theme for the upcoming fest as they were expected to. The protestors assembled in front of the admin office for hours. However, nobody from the admin office came to address them, instead asking two students to enter the office but leave their phones behind – something they refused to comply with.

The protestors questioned the administration’s move of imposing restrictions on a women’s college fest because of what transpired at IPCW, rather than increasing security as necessary. They questioned the “highly regressive” idea of asking students to leave early in a metropolitan city like Delhi, simply because they are women. They demanded the right to organise a college fest without the imposition of such unreasonable restrictions, just like other co-ed colleges of the University.

However, it was revealed that rather than the fest being cancelled, additional guidelines and restrictions had been put in place by the administration to allegedly curb crowding and the chances of mishaps. These included wrapping up the event by 5 PM, removing the element of a star night or concert, and limiting the fest to society competitions and events. A student, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared that the student council were informed of these changes on the evening of 30th March, Thursday.

Our original itinerary had a band performance, stand-up comedy, and Qawwali night till 7-8 in the evening. But on the 31st they told us that it will be till 5, with no band, no stand-up comedian, only sufi night, because apparently that would not attract boys. Basically, nothing that can generate mass crowd because apparently coronavirus is spreading – only after 5 PM – and because of the IPCW incident. These were the two reasons they gave us.” – an anonymous student

In opposition to these restrictions as well as in solidarity with protesting IPCW students, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Gargi College, decided to lead a protest demanding “a proper fest without restrictions while ensuring safety of the students,” as said in an SFI press release dated April 3, 2023. The protest began around 12:30 PM with a handful of students in the Arts Quad area of the college, but over time allegedly grew to amass a crowd of over 500.

SFI Gargi led a protest on 3 April, 2023 in solidarity with the students of IPCW and against the Gargi administration restricting the students by cancelling Reverie’23. We were joined by a huge mass of students as well as the college societies. We’ll continue to fight for the rights of the students inside and outside our college campus.” – Aahana, SFI South Area President and Anurakti, SFI College Secretary in a joint statement

A meeting was held with the members of the Student Council, heads of various societies, unions, etc., and other students, where the Student Council of Gargi College allegedly stepped down from the organising committee as the event was not going as they had planned. Several societies have also reportedly decided to boycott the fest unless it is organised as per the original itinerary.

This edition of Reverie would be the first to take place after the unfortunate incidents of harassment and abuse that took place in the last edition of the fest, organised in February 2020. A continuation of the protest on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, seems to be planned until student demands are met. SFI’s press release additionally mentions a memorandum that will be submitted on the same day in this regard.

Read also: Overcrowding and Harassment at Reverie’20, Gargi College

Feature Image credits: Devangi for DU Beat

Sanika Singh
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LQBTQ

English Department and Queer Collective Condemn Transphobic Video in Circulation

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Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, has recently witnessed a controversy surrounding a video that was released by some students from the English department, containing harmful misinformation and hate speech about the transgender community. In response, VenQueer, the unofficial queer collective of the college, condemned the video and demanded an immediate apology from the perpetrators.

 

VenQueer has expressed support for the transgender and gender non-binary groups and urged the administration to take strict measures against those who were behind the video. To promote inclusivity and a safe space for the queer community on the college campus, the collective has also urged for the conduct of more gender and sexuality sensitization programmes and workshops. They have also advised all college students to express their disapproval of the clip and avoid circulating it.

 

On 30th March, the English Department Association of Sri Venkateswara College released a statement on their social media platform, denouncing the video and expressing their support for the queer community. The association has made it clear that none of the views expressed in the video are tolerated or propagated by its members. The association has also appealed to all college students to refrain from sharing the video and to express their condemnation of it. The association has explicitly stated that none of the opinions presented in the clip are supported or encouraged by its members. The association has also urged all college students to publicly denounce the video and desist from sharing it. 

 

This is not the first time that instances of discrimination against the queer community have come up at the University campus. Queer individuals faced backlash after the DU Pride parade held a few months back. There is opposition from many colleges. The administration responds to the requests of queer students on campus with hostility, ignorance, indifference, and sometimes threats. Students’ calls for a queer collective are rebuffed with opposition, ignorance, indifference, and even threats from officials as reported at various colleges of the varsity in the recent past. 

Read also: https://dubeat.com/2023/03/31/student-protesters-at-arts-faculty-brutally-detained-by-delhi-police/ 

Image credits: DU Beat Archives

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DUB News

Student Protesters at Arts Faculty Brutally Detained by Delhi Police

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Following the detainment of student protestors against the harassment of women students at IPCW on Wednesday 29th March, Delhi Police has further detained numerous individuals during SFI and AISA protests at Arts Faculty on Friday, 31st March.

On Friday, 31st March 2023, student protestors at Arts Faculty in North Campus were brutally detained by Delhi Police and dragged towards buses to transport them to the police station. The protestors included individual students along with members of the Student’s Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students Association (AISA).

The SFI and AISA attempted to stage a peaceful protest outside Indraprastha College for Women gates. However, due to heavy police deployment at the IPCW campus, the protest was shifted to Arts Faculty. The “Azadi March” from Miranda House to the Arts Faculty soon invited police crackdown. The police have not only detained several student protestors but, allegedly, also innocent bystanders and media personnel. SFI and AISA have alleged that the activists have been ‘manhandled’ and ‘harassed’ by the police.

I took out my phone and showed them my media ID but one of the officers didn’t listen and continued dragging me towards their bus,” – Bharish, a DU Beat photographer covering the protest.

A release by AISA DU dated 31st March, 2023 states, “We call for immediate termination of Satender Yadav, the ACP Civil Lines. He has ordered a brutal crackdown on AISA’s Azadi March and has himself manhandled Anjali, AISA DU Secretary.”

SFI and AISA have been calling for protests ever since the Indraprastha College for Women’s fest was marred by unknown men. On 28th March 2023, Indraprastha College for Women hosted its annual fest, during which several drunk men scaled the college walls and harassed women students. The miscreants wrote and chanted vulgar and obnoxious messages and created an unsafe space for the fest-goers. There was alleged inaction from the administration or police to control the chaos. Since then, the principal has also failed to address the matter. 

The student organisations have demanded that Delhi Police and the IPCW administration take accountability for allowing the situation to take place and not providing adequate punishment to the unknown men behind the situation. They have also demanded to know the reasoning behind Delhi Police letting the perpetrators behind a similar situation at Miranda get away despite escorting them out of Miranda House at the time. 

Today’s protest at the Arts Faculty follows a similar scene observed on Wednesday, 29th March at the IPCW Campus where student protestors were detained at Burari Police Station. 

This is a very sad state of affairs which is happening from last few months. We are seeing how administration with the help of police has been dealing with the students who have been peacefully protesting against the events that are happening in the university campus.” – Samaa, Co-convener at SFI DU. 

Allegedly, the classroom windows of IPCW have been covered with sheets to ignore the protests happening outside. Individuals present at today’s protest also allege that the walls of IPCW have also been painted saffron.  Students, along with the support of SFI and AISA have been demanding answers from the administration for the past few days, staging protests in an attempt to receive an answer from the authorities. These protests have so far been met with inaction from the University of Delhi and brutal action from Delhi Police.

Read Also: Delhi Police Detains Student Protestors at IPCW

Feature Image Credits:

Bhavya Nayak

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Campus Central

LSR Invites Controversial Politician Anurag Thakur as Guest, Students Raise Objection

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The student body of Lady Shri Ram College for Women has expressed dissent over the decision of the college authorities to host the controversial BJP minister for its annual sports meet.

The Department of Physical Education, Lady Shri Ram College along with the National Sports Organisation (NSO) LSR organised its annual sports meet – the Dr. Bharat Ram Sports meet – from 20th to 22nd March 2023. Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur, the current Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports was welcomed as the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony on 20th March 2023. This move undertaken by the college authorities has not gone down well with the student body. The guest has been infamous for his controversial remarks amidst the anti Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Delhi in 2020. The student body is seeking clarification on why, after having claimed ‘apoliticism’ as a core principle, a right-wing politician was invited to campus by the college administration.

“It is supposed to be the responsibility of the department and its union to conduct thorough background checks on whoever is invited within college, which was apparently overlooked and disregarded this time.” – an anonymous final year student at LSR

Students are outraged at the ignorance of the college on separating the sportsperson from the politician for certain personal agendas. Questions are also being raised about the lack of transparency in the decision process and the obscurity of the invitation. 

“Being an NSO student, I expect to have known about the decision prior to the rest of the student body. However, it is highly disappointing how we were just informed rather than being involved in the process.” – an anonymous NSO student, currently in their second year.

A General Body Meeting with the students, the unions and the staff advisors was called at 9 AM on Thursday, 23rd March to address the issue and seek further explanation. According to sources, staff advisors did not show up for the meeting and the dialogue proceeded solely between the NSO Union and the student body. 

“Whatever has happened in the past cannot be undone. All we demand is an official letter of regret by the administration holding the college and its authorities accountable.” – attendees of the meeting.

Criticism has also been raised by certain students about how there is varying liberty across the departments within college when it comes to inviting guests and personalities .

“We have been trying since a long time to have certain poets and authors on campus but the restrictions that are imposed on us make the entire process unworkable.” – a second year student from the English department of LSR.

Organisations such as the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) LSR have been particularly critical of the college administration following this situation.

Read also: LSR’s Department of English Calls for GBM in Light of Political Scenario

Feature image credits: India Today

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AISA

AISA Organises People’s Literature Festival, Condemns DU Lit Fest as ‘BJP-RSS Propaganda’

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Rejecting the alleged ‘sham of DU Literature Festival’ which was organised in Ramjas College from March 17–19, AISA organised a ‘People’s Literature Festival’ on March 17, coinciding with the former.

On March 17, the All-India Students’ Association (AISA) organised a ‘People’s Literature Festival’ at the University Arts Faculty from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The festival enjoyed the attendance of hundreds of students and prominent speakers from the fields of film, academia, and journalism.

With a slogan of celebrating ‘Krantikari’ literature in place of ‘Sarkari’ literature, the festival was organised in direct opposition to the DU Literature Festival, which was held from March 17–19, 2023, on Ramjas College grounds. The organisation alleged that the latter was hosted “with a whole range of BJP-corporate intellectuals”, who “spewed communal venom on the platform of a public university”, as accused by AISA’s press release and social media handles.

“Rather than calling for the cancellation of the Lit Fest, we wanted to bring about a positive campaign as an alternative” – Anjali, AISA DU Secretary.

Anjali further described the program as “an attempt to reclaim the democratic space of dissent in the University.”

The festival had a focus on “revolutionary traditions in literature”, hosting a range of interactive speaker sessions on the topics of resistance, cinema, media, caste, history, literature, and people’s movements. It featured a line-up of speakers such as ‘Anarkali of Aarah’ director Avinash Das, ‘Mooknayak’ editor and journalist Meena Kotwal, historian S. Irfan Habib, and professor Apoorvanand, among others.

The program also included an open mic session of poetry recitation by the University students, along with Professor Nandita Narain, who inaugurated the event with a rendering of ‘Hum Dekhenge’ by Faiz. The team of ‘Raschakra’ performed a theatrical reading of ‘Afghani Dukhtaran’, a play written by Purwa Bhardwaj and directed by Vinod Kumar, centring on the literature and resistance of the women of Afghanistan against years of oppression. The festival concluded with a cultural performance and songs of resistance.

Read also: IP College Lit Fest- The Artist, Society and A Pinch of Heroin

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Sanika Singh
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Campus Central

Foreign Ties: a Conversation with an Exchange Student in DU

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Did you know that the University of Delhi offers a Student Exchange Program? DU Beat recently got in touch with Dominik, an exchange program student from Austria who’s currently enrolled in Hindu College, University of Delhi. Read on to find out all about this program from a candid conversation with Dominik and his journey so far.

Applying to Attend Delhi University

A history student from the University of Vienna, Dominik is currently enrolled in Hindu College as an exchange program student. Talking about his experiences while applying for the program, he says, 

“It was a long process. It took me six months to get everything through. It could have taken even longer if I hadn’t begun on time.” – Dominik

The University of Delhi is in a partnership with the University of Vienna under which students and professors from the two universities are given the opportunity of an exchange program, post a rigorous selection process. In stark contrast with Delhi University’s generally ignorant and secretive nature surrounding the student exchange program, Dominik talks about his home university’s efforts in helping him contact a previously unresponsive DU.

“Getting in touch with the University was the hardest part. My home university professors would constantly email on behalf of me and helped me get in touch with Delhi University. This followed extensive research on available courses and colleges.” – Dominik

A mandatory prerequisite for the program is a language proficiency test. For Dominik, he was required to submit his English language proficiency test scores. The next crucial stage involves several rounds of interview sessions with professors and exchange program officers, who evaluate the student’s overall suitability for the program. The important documents which are essential to be kept handy are a motivation letter, CV, cover letter and academic transcripts. 

“It’s so hard to get anything done, get a signature or a stamp. They send you back and ask you to come back later, and there’s no actual reason for it.” – Dominik

University Culture

The conversation further delved into life at university and the cultural aspects of it. Dominik shares,

“One thing that’s great about the university culture here is that you are really close to your professors. They know your name, they really help you out, you have their phone number. This is something which is unimaginable in Austria.”  – Dominik

He further emphasised on the attendance system in Austrian universities, saying, 

“One thing that’s really different in Austria is that we don’t have an attendance policy, you have a choice whether to attend classes, so there’s a lot of freedom and time to pursue other things that way.” – Dominik

Academic Contrasts

The selection of your course is a crucial step involved and conducting extensive background research before applying is a good idea. Dominik shares his personal experience of going through hundreds of answers posted on websites which eventually helped him make the choices. Availability of a certain course or paper also plays an important role, since unlike Austrian universities, Delhi University has a pre-structured curriculum. Discussing academics, Dominik adds,

“In Austria, you can choose amongst various different courses and you have the option to decide which course to study in which semester. In the framework of sixteen credits, you can build your own course so to say and try out what suits you best.”  – Dominik

Speaking of his experience of studying history in Delhi University, he comments,

“You can learn about colonial history from the victim’s side, and not from the oppressor’s side. You can feel the emotions still attached to this history, so it’s really interesting to learn from this perspective, and break free from the Eurocentric point of view of history.” – Dominik

Words of Advice

“Don’t give up. It’s a long process but it’s so worth it. There’ll be bureaucratic hurdles; all this hard work and problems will be forgotten and you’ll only have nice memories then.” – Dominik

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Sigy Ghosh

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